OSAMA USED LETTER TO COMMUNICATE TO DEPUTIES

As a way of keeping his communications confidential Osama Bin Laden wrote letters and notes to his top deputies, a declassification of materials confiscated from his home has shown.

 The letters and notes show  talks of training new recruits, and how to select
the most talented to carry out major attacks in the West. There are discussions of who should be promoted, and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of those seeking to move up Al Qaeda’s chain of command.

According to the New York Times there are also long discussions between Bin Laden and his chief lieutenants about the strategy and the general direction of the terror network.

Wednesday’s release comes after years of pressure on the Obama administration to declassify material seized from Bin Laden’s compound. Last year, Congress directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to review the material and make public as many as possible.

The review, which began in May 2014, is expected to continue through the summer and into the fall, said Jeffrey S Anchukaitis, a spokesman for the intelligence office. But the White House asked that office and the C.I.A. to begin releasing material immediately because of “the increasing public demand to review those documents,” he said.